Netconcepts

Specialists in SEO, web dev, online marketing

Book A Free Strategy Call
  • About
    • Problems We Solve
    • Who We’re Not a fit for
  • Services
  • Results
  • Learn
    • Learning Center
    • Courses
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
  • Press
  • Contact

SEO Report Card: ShopWildPlanet.com

Report CardThis month’s recipient of an SEO critique is www.shopwildplanet.com. Since my SEO how-to column this month is on RSS feeds (see page 18), I thought it would be only fitting that the website that I critique have an RSS feed. Brian Almashie of 3D Joe Corporation, the firm that built the site for Wild Planet, believes they have done a pretty good job of optimizing it. Let’s see if his confidence is well founded.

  1. They certainly appear to have a large number of pages indexed in Google: 138,000. This number seemed unbelievable to me, and indeed it was massively over-inflated. As I started digging, I found that many of the pages in Googleâ??s index don’t have titles and snippets. This is significant because it means the pages have not been indexed by Google, and, therefore, won’t show up for most searchers. I then used one of my super-secret SEO tricks to eliminate the bulk of the snippet-less unindexed pages from the results and discovered only 463 English pages. (Dying to know what my super-secret trick is? Okay, I’ll tell you. Go to the Preferences link on www.google.com and select under Search Language the option to search only those pages written in English, and conduct the search again. Most of the pages that have no titles or snippets should disappear.)
  2. Yahoo! shows only a few hundred pages indexed, a much more realistic estimate than Googleâ??s. I found, included in those results, URLs with affiliate tracking parameters appended and that means duplicate contentâ??something you’ll want to avoid. Furthermore, searchers who click on those affiliate-tagged pages will be counted as affiliate referrals and trigger a commissionâ??probably not an intended consequence.
  3. Error pages (e.g., MIVA Merchant Fatal Error pages) have made their way into Google’s index. This is one of my pet peeves. Error pages should always return a 404 status code, thus ensuring the page will not end up in the SERPs (which stands for “Search Engine Results Pages,” an oft-used acronym amongst us SEO types).
  4. The HTML code is quite bloated with inline JavaScripts, tables being used for layout, comment tags and so forth. Bloated HTML, particularly high up in the page, pushes the keyword- rich body copy further down the page, thus lowering keyword prominence.
  5. The sister site www.wildplanet.com links to www.shopwildplanet.com in multiple places, which is good. However most of those links have tracking tags appended on the URL. This passes link gain to another version of the home page, e.g., not to http://www.shopwildplanet.com but instead to http://www.shopwildplanet.com/?utm_medium=referral?utm_source=wildplanetcom&utm_term=shop+wild+planet+tab.
  6. There are two versions of the website in Yahoo!. One is at shopwildplanet.com and the other is at www.shopwildplanet.com. That is because a 301 permanent redirect has not been put in place on shopwildplanet.com to point to www.shopwildplanet. com. That redirect should be in place across all pages on shopwildplanet. com, not just the home page.
  7. The RSS feed features quite a number of items (119 in all), however, none of them have a <content:encoded> container. Therefore, no HTML is embedded into the RSS feed, which means no tracking of “opens” using “web bugs” (which are 1 pixel GIFs with unique, trackable filenames that when loaded, confirm that the item has been viewed). Furthermore, a summary feed like this isnâ??t as meaty to the RSS search engines, and it isnâ??t as attractive or useful to users when viewed in their RSS newsreader.
  8. The meta keywords are too long (currently 40 words, should be more like 10) and, thus, look spammy. This same list of meta keywords is used across the whole site, rather than being unique and relevant to the page on which it is included. Meta keywords offer no real ranking benefit, therefore, it’s probably not worth the effort to tailor the keywords to each page. Removing the meta keywords tag altogether is probably the easiest solution here. 8. I was pleased to see that CSS was employed for the mouseover navigation, so the navigation choices underneath the mouseover are accessible to spiders.
oral tbol

Comments

The Art of SEO

Chapter 7:
Content Marketing

From the fundamentals of link building to the nuances of natural linking patterns, virality, and authority.

Get Free Chapter

Related Posts

Blog Images

Your Ultimate Guide to Google Penalties

When your website’s traffic suddenly takes a tumble and you don’t know why, it can be maddening. Why is this happening? It’s possible you’ve been hit with a Google penalty, or have come up against one of Google’s algorithm updates. If you’re wondering how Google penalties work and what you should do to avoid them, […]

Read More
Blog Images

Using Psychology to Boost Your Conversion Rate Optimization

Can a better understanding of the human brain help you get more conversions? Absolutely! Let’s look at how to incorporate some psychological concepts into your conversion rate strategy, along with some examples. Behavioral economics: humans are irrational What is behavioral economics and what does it have to do with conversion rates? Traditionally, economists believed that […]

Read More
Blog Images

How to Master Social Selling on LinkedIn

Social selling could be your key to securing new prospects and boosting your bottom line. When not done properly, however, social selling can also ruin your online presence and repel potential customers. So what is social selling, and why does your brand need it? More importantly, how do you master social selling? Let’s look at […]

Read More
As seen on
NBC ABC CBS Fox CW Haryard adweek foundr cnet
Capsule Bar Img
Will your content marketing turn readers into customers?

Download chapter 7 of The Art of SEO, Content Marketing

Download Now
netconcepts
  • submenu
    • About
    • Services
    • Problems We Solve
  • submenu
    • FAQ
    • Results
    • Who We’re Not a fit for
  • submenu
    • Case Studies
    • Testimonials
    • Learning Center
  • submenu
    • Courses
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
  • submenu
    • Press
    • Contact
netconcepts
© 2021-2022 Netconcepts. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Earnings Disclaimer Privacy Policy
Book

The Art of SEO

Chapter 7: Content Marketing

Yes, this is the book that Seth Godin referred to as “Hype-free, data-rich, and loaded with insight that’s essential reading for anyone who needs a deep understanding of SEO.”

Want to sharpen your SEO chops?...
start out with an appetizer before you dig into the main course!

Get Free Chapter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube